


Times Like These

by Eastenra



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex is just so done, Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, I can't resist making Lena an emo teen okay, Kidfic, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Maybe a little angst, baby lena, but like.... literally, it's basically a bunch of fluff, okay teen Lena is there ofc there's angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-03-31 10:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13972998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastenra/pseuds/Eastenra
Summary: Dealing with meta-humans was exactly what Alex had signed up for when she started working at the DEO. Dealing with a sobbing 6-month-old CEO of a multi-billion company was definitely NOT what she had signed up for.orLena gets turned into a baby by a meta-human and Kara is NOT prepared to take care of Lena in the various stages of growing up. She tries anyway.





	1. We'll be alright

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting any of my works, constructive criticism is always welcome. I know this probably isn't the best, but hey, I tried. Any mistakes are mine, I do not have a beta because sharing my work makes me anxious (and yet here I am). Maybe I'll get one in the future, who knows. 
> 
> A lot of thanks to all of my friends for motivating me to post this instead of just keeping it hidden on my laptop for the rest of my life! 
> 
> Anygays, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Ps. the fic title is from Times Like These by The Eden Project (he changed his name to EDEN, but his music is awesome)

Dealing with meta-humans was exactly what Alex had signed up for when she started working at the DEO. Protecting National City was part of the job, and dealing with dangerous criminals (alien or meta-human, if they were dangerous and abnormal, the DEO took care of them) came with that task.

Rodger—the meta-human with an unusually normal name, so much so that it’d shocked her slightly when she’d first heard it—was a meta-human who targeted people’s vulnerabilities. His first attack had been a few months ago, some people dropping down onto the ground mid-panic attack, and a few losing their senses entirely, rendering them helpless. The effects didn’t last, the longest time having been two and a half months.

Alex was currently chasing Kara, who was chasing Rodger. He’d hacked into their security system, broadcasting a message about how he’d fought Kara before and had finally figured out her vulnerability after ‘carefully studying her’. It repulsed Alex that someone had been stalking her little sister, but she kept her mouth shut for the benefit of the case. He went on about his next attack, one that would benefit a lot of people, as he’d put it.

Kara had barely slept, always on-edge when it came to her Supergirl duties but even more so when it came to this particular meta-human.

His next attack came not even a week later, and he hadn’t been lying when he said he’d found out her greatest weakness (or at least one of them). Winn and James disappeared first, followed by Maggie and even Alex had been attacked on the streets. She’d been well-prepared, though, shooting the two men when they came at her.

It didn’t take long for Kara to find out where he’d hidden them (completely unguarded too), and while Kara happily freed her friends, Alex was busy worrying about his motives. Rodger was known for his intelligence, no way he’d have kept them in such an obvious place, without guards no less. It gave her an uneasy feeling.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard panicked agents from the other side of her earpiece. There was an attack on L-Corp, led by Rodger himself.

It took Alex every ounce of self-control not to yell at her fellow agents for being so reckless, but she made her way to L-Corp in a hurry, having alerted Kara just moments before. Kara wasn’t able to be there fast enough, though, seeing as Rodger had locked Winn, James and Maggie up all the way across the country, giving him just enough time to attack L-Corp before Kara could come back.

She prepared herself for the worst—having to fight off Rodger herself, along with a bunch of his followers.

_She wasn’t prepared_ because there weren’t any soldiers alongside Rodger. He was just standing in the middle of Lena Luthor’s office, hands raised, a purple glow surrounding them. His left hand held a simple gun. He was pointing the gun at a bundle of clothing across the office, and Alex silently crept up on him.

“Drop the gun, Rodger!” she shouted. Bad move. He twisted around and raised his hands again, the purple glow starting to shine brighter. In a move of pure panic, Alex charged him and attached her taser to his leg. Apparently, no one had ever gotten close enough to him to engage him in a physical fight, because he was extremely bad at it. Every time Alex charged, he tried to escape and give himself enough space to use his powers on her. He didn’t even fight back, instead, he twisted and turned in her grasp, pointing his gun at the bundle of clothes.

Alex didn’t know why, but something in her gut told her to protect the bundle of clothing. She elbowed him in the chin just as the gunshot went off. His breathing was heavy, but he turned to her with a wicked smile on his face.

“Too little, too late, Alex,” he said, before pulling away with extreme force and running straight at the window. “Now watch your sister’s world burn.”

“Stop!” she yelled, just as he slung his body over the railing and plummeted to his death.

She stood there for a minute, breathing through her nose and trying to get rid of the adrenaline rushing through her body. The silence after fights always left her feeling buzzed and slightly uneasy, but it was a peace she was thankful for.

The peace didn’t last long. A sudden wailing cut through the room like a knife, scaring Alex enough to have her reach for her gun and point it at the door.

What she didn’t expect when she found the source, however, was for it to be the pile of clothing, consisting of a red blouse, a black pencil skirt and a matching set of underwear that probably cost more than all of Alex's clothing combined. It was crying loudly and moving around, the clothes lifting along with it.

Carefully, she reached for the blouse and pulled at it. A little arm stuck out at her, waving around as the crying continued.

_Oh, no._

She carefully put the gun back in her holster, before uncovering the baby further. Judging by the clothes that were now disregarded next to the baby and whose office she was currently in, she was almost certain she’d discovered exactly who the baby was.

Alex crouched next to the small baby who was apparently Lena and slowly picked her up. Lena’s crying stopped almost immediately, and she tucked her head into Alex’s neck making the redhead chuckle.

“Wow, who knew National City’s toughest CEO was a cuddler, huh cutie?” she cooed at the small baby before she reminded herself that this was Lena, and her sister’s best friend was a  _literal_  baby. A literal, butt-naked baby, now that she wasn’t covered in her adult clothing anymore.

She pressed the small button on her earpiece to contact Kara, hoping the blonde would answer.

“Uh, Supergirl… We might have a kind of situation here…” she let her words fade out as she heard she the crunch of something on the other end of the line.

“Alex, I’m almost at L-Corp! Please tell me Lena’s okay…” Kara’s voice was scared, but she noticed how exhausted her little sister was by the way she slipped up and called her by her first name instead of ‘Agent Danvers’.

Alex didn’t answer, unsure of how to bring the news to Kara, especially over a DEO earpiece. She knew Kara would want to take care of Lena once she found out, but she didn’t exactly know if any of it had caused any lasting trauma to Lena, and she was scared to find out.

Looking back down at the baby she was currently holding, Alex let herself study Lena. The resemblance between the Lena she knew and the baby she was holding wasn’t that obvious, apart from the big, wide green eyes and the small locks of black hair covering her small head.

Kara landed quietly on the balcony and immediately panicked when Lena wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She spotted Alex in the middle of Lena’s office, standing with her back to Kara and looking at something she was holding. She focused on trying to find Lena instead of going over to her sister, X-raying the entire building but coming up empty-handed.

“A-Alex? Is Lena okay? Please tell me she’s okay…” Kara trailed off when Alex didn’t answer. “Something happened, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, Kara, something happened. Lena’s fine, I think, but I haven’t been able to run any tests yet so I’m not entirely sure… You uh... might want to come see for yourself…” Kara heard Alex swallow, and even though Alex had said Lena was fine she was afraid it might not be in a way she wanted Lena to be. Slowly taking steps over to her Alex was standing, she prepared herself for the worst (something she honestly didn’t even want to think about, but Alex had said that Lena was fine, so at least she wasn’t dead).

She wasn’t prepared because her sister was holding a _baby_.

“Alex….? Why are you holding a baby?” an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach and she was pretty sure she knew exactly what Alex was going to say next.

“You know how Rodger turns people into their most vulnerable state?” Kara nodded slowly, “well, this is Lena’s.”

Kara’s jaw dropped.

“T-that’s L-Lena?” Kara’s mouth wasn’t fully obeying her yet, the shock having stunned her almost as much as the weird paralyzing goo an alien had spit at her once.

Alex nodded carefully, and, as if she knew they were talking about her, Lena let out a loud wail.

Kara sighed and looked back at baby Lena. She knew Lena had had a rough childhood, losing her mother at the age of 4 and being adopted by an entirely new family, especially one that didn’t even want her. It wasn’t such a surprise, now that she was thinking about it, Lena’s childhood was such a vulnerable state for her because it shaped her entire being and left her with a lot of emotional scars.

“Kara, I know this is a shock, believe me, I was just as stunned, but could you please go get her some diapers and other baby stuff? I don’t know how long this will last yet so we’re going to have to stock up…” Alex’s voice was a little louder now, the noise in Kara’s ears finally having gone away.

Kara nodded quickly and darted out the window to the closest store. Along the way she landed in a dark alley and changed clothes, heading to the shop which was only a few feet away.

It was a big store, filled with a bunch of isles of everything you’d ever need. She traced the isles until she found the baby aisle, but it quickly dawned on her that she had no idea what to get. Instead of asking a worker she figured she’d just get a bunch of diapers in every size available and a huge variety of powdered milk and bottles. She picked up a book on parenting along the way too, just to be sure.

Shopping for clothing was a lot more fun, the tiny clothes were all adorable and Kara might have gone a little overboard… Okay, she went very overboard. She chose a bunch of outfits in every size available, up to about 12 years old. Cute sundresses, sweaters and pajamas filled up her cart, quickly covering up the bottom layer of diapers and powder milk.

She might have gone a little overboard while shopping for toys, too. She figured since Lena hadn’t had a great youth she’d try and make this one the best for her. While she was touring the toy isle her eyes landed on a stuffed Nala from the Lion King and she added it to the pile. Lena had told her once that her favorite Disney movie was the Lion King (after Kara had realized Lena had never seen a single Disney movie in her life and made it her personal quest to show Lena her personal favorites).

She started heading out when her eyes fell on the video camera currently on sale. A video was playing on the screen next to it, showing a mom filming her kid’s 9th birthday. She put it in her cart too and continued heading to the check-out. The cashier smiled at her and chuckled at the large amount of stuff Kara had in her cart.

“First kid?” the woman asked while scanning Kara’s items.

Kara nodded nervously, “Something like that.” she said after debating her answer for a while.

“Well then, make sure you never miss a thing. I have a son and he’s about your age now, but watching him grow and experience life is still the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” she smiled kindly before asking Kara if she preferred to pay with cash or her credit card.

Almost half an hour after she’d gotten to the shop, she was stood outside with almost twelve bags stuffed to the brim with everything you’d ever need to raise a kid. She decided she should probably take a cab instead of flying back to Alex, seeing as people would for sure question Supergirl flying up to L-Corp with twelve bags filled with baby stuff.

“Alex!” she smiled widely as she dropped all twelve bags in front of Alex with a loud ‘thud’, “I got everything, I think…. I was going to get a crib but we don’t know how long this lasts and I didn’t know what to do so I figured she could just sleep next to me in my bed and I’ll take care of her and-“

“Kara, breathe,” Alex chuckled as she looked through the bags, raising her eyebrow at the amount of stuff her sister had bought. “Really, Kara? You know we could have just bought more later, right?”

“Oh… Uh… Y-yeah I totally knew that…. Totally.” Kara’s cheeks had a slight tint of red to them and she quickly X-rayed the bags to find the one which had the clothes inside. It ended up being the third one to her left and she looked through it for a while before pulling out the pajamas she’d been looking for.

“Uh, Alex? Can she wear this?” she held up the small pink onesie, covered with cartoon deer and a bunch of flowers. She personally thought baby Lena would look adorable in them, and just the image in her head alone was enough to make her let out a small ‘awww’.

Alex fixed Lena’s diaper before looking up at Kara, and the small piece of clothing she was holding up. It looked to be the right size, so she nodded and scooted away so Kara could dress Lena.

Kara didn’t quite know how to dress a baby, but once she managed to get both of Lena’s feet to stop moving and put on the lower half of the onesie, she got a bit more confident. She’d held a baby before, luckily, so she knew that they weren’t made of glass and that she could still use a little bit of her strength, but not too much.

Lena was finally fully dressed, and Kara proudly held her up for Alex to see. The action made her sister chuckle and shake her head.

“It’s like the Lion King Alex!” Kara happily exclaimed, followed by a bunch of noise that was supposed to mimic the song played with the scene. Alex laughed fondly while shaking her head, even joining in at certain parts of the song.

They quieted down after a while, and Kara lowered Lena from where she was being held as Simba. They looked at each other, Lena with wide, curious eyes while Kara looked slightly spooked by the sudden reality of everything.

“Should we…. feed her?” Kara had no clue what babies needed, apart from the basics. Alex had babysat a lot in high school, though, so she knew a lot more.

“Yeah, probably. You said Lena always forgets to eat when she’s at the office, right?” Alex waited for her sister to nod before continuing. “Well then, we should feed her seeing as it’s around dinner time, but maybe get her to your apartment first. You want to take care of her, right?”

Kara nodded furiously, and Alex let out a loud laugh.

“Of course you would,” Kara huffed in response and crossed her arms, jutting out her lower lip. Lena’s loud cry interrupted their sibling banter not soon after, and Kara carefully picked her up, cradling her best friend in her arms. “I’ll run some tests at your apartment, just to be sure, and then tomorrow morning we can bring her to the DEO to do some extensive tests if anything weird shows up.”

Kara nodded and bounced Lena a little while she walked around the office, hoping the motion would help quiet Lena down.

“This is so weird.” Kara breathed out when she finally managed to get Lena to quiet down by handing her a small stuffed tiger.

“Tell me about it, I never thought I would see Lena without any clothes on.” Alex laughed before continuing, “ _You_ , however….”

Kara playfully hit Alex with the hand that wasn’t supporting Lena as they walked over to the elevator.

“Shut up, Al, I hadn’t seen Lena without any clothes on until now either.” Alex raised her eyebrow, a small smirk plastered on her lips. “What?! I really haven’t!”

They both dragged the bags up to Kara’s apartment, Kara holding Lena with one arm and holding six bags with the other.

“Jesus Kara, why’d you have to buy so much stuff?!” Alex panted when they filled got to Kara’s apartment. Her little sister might not be affected by carrying six bags up eight pairs of stairs, but she was, even with all of her DEO training.

Kara didn’t respond, immediately heading over to the kitchen with Lena and setting up the bottle warmer like Alex had said she needed to while they were walking. She followed all Alex’s instructions and soon after she was holding a completely finished bottle in one hand and holding Lena up with the other.

“Alex?” her sister hummed in response, “Will you film me while I feed her? I know it might sound weird, but Lena didn’t have a great childhood, so she probably doesn’t have many videos of her younger self… and uh… I want to show her a bunch of videos when she’s back to normal… There’s a camera in that bag over there.” She gestured to the bag next to the counter and bounced Lena up a little to keep her from sliding off her hip.

Alex smiled warmly and nodded, immediately spotting the camera in the bag. Kara’s actions never failed to fill her heart with love for her sister and her kind heart. No matter how many times she fought with Kara, her sister was still the person she cared about most.

It didn’t take long for her to start up the camera, and she gave Kara a thumbs-up to signal it was running. Kara smiled before directing her attention to Lena and the bottle in her other hand. Alex and the camera disappeared soon enough while she was watching baby Lena and a huge smile overtook her face. She started humming some of her favorite songs and carefully supported Lena’s head, tracing her thumb over the side of her head.

Lena’s tiny hand covered the hand holding her bottle and Kara was brought back to reality. She beamed back at Alex and held back a squeal.

“Did you see that Alex?” her sister chuckled and responded with a soft ‘yeah’. “She’s so cute Alex! Look at her tiny hand!”

Kara walked a little closer to Alex, who turned off the camera and nodded.

“She really is, but I’m going to have to run some tests now. Will you please hand her over to me?” Kara hesitated a little, her friend’s soft heartbeat and tiny hand holding her own flooding her with a feeling of protectiveness, but she nodded slowly and carefully handed Lena over to Alex who got started immediately.

The tests didn’t take too long, Lena already half asleep and too tired to respond with anything other than a small whine to the sting of the needle.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Alex said after a while, “turns out the effects aren’t permanent. It should last about two months, meaning she’ll age about a year every two days.”

Kara breathed out in relief and listened to Alex list off a bunch of positives and negatives, all of which shouldn’t be too much of a problem. She’d picked Lena up somewhere along the conversation, cradling her friend in her arms, Lena’s head resting in the crook of Kara’s neck. Eventually, Alex’s voice became just another sound in the distance, her complete focus going to Lena’s heartbeat and the flood of relief that washed over her when she realized Lena could have been off a lot worse. Rodger could have done some serious damage. Lena could have died, but she was going to be okay now. Kara had sworn to never let anything happen to Lena and she wasn’t about to break that promise. On top of that, she was going to give Lena the best childhood she could.

“Kara?” Alex tried to snap Kara back into reality, but her sister stayed still, tears rolling down her cheeks, along with a small smile on her lips. Kara carefully lowered Lena from her shoulder and laid her down in her arms. She was slowly tracing small circles on Lena’s tiny palm, and Alex silently lifted the camera she’d put down beside her and turned it on. She had been too focused on everything else before to notice Lena’s hair had grown significantly and Alex swore she’d gotten a bit bigger too, the onesie no longer a bit too big but a perfect fit.

Alex’s smile widened when Kara bent over to place a small kiss on Lena’s forehead and she quietly turned the camera back off after a while, standing up to catch Kara’s attention.

It worked, and Kara jerked a little, scrambling to stand up and lifting Lena along with her.

“I should get going, you’ll manage until the morning, right?” Kara nodded and beamed at her, pulling her in for a one-armed hug.

“Thank you, Al, for taking care of her while I was getting Maggie, Winn and James, and for keeping a cool head,” she chuckled slightly. “I’ll see you later?”

“Of course, you big baby.” Alex bolted out the door, but could still hear Kara’s muffled ‘I am NOT a baby!’ through the door.


	2. Look at how the stars shine for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Wow, I can't believe all the amazing feedback I've gotten! I'm so happy that you like the story so far!
> 
> Anygays, here's the next chapter! Again, all mistakes are mine as I do not have a beta. The next chapter might take a little longer because I have a ton of work to do this week, but I should have it up between 1 to 2 weeks!  
> A huge shoutout to my friend @Dawn for being super supporting and helping me out with figuring things out, go check her fics out guys, they're super cute!
> 
> The chapter title is from Yellow by Coldplay.

Kara sighed and stood up, resting Lena on her hip while walking over to the stereo. She was in desperate need of some music. Soon enough, the sound of guitar strings filled the room as Coldplay’s Yellow started playing softly in the background. Lena stirred in her arms, wide and tired eyes watching Kara as she swayed the two of them around the room while humming along to the song.

She bumped into the dining table, the camera wobbling a bit before the green light started blinking. Kara didn’t notice and kept dancing around with Lena safely in her arms.

“ _Look at the stars,_  
Look how they shine for you  
And everything you do  
Yeah, they were all yellow,” Kara sang along, Lena still watching her quietly, her hands firmly holding onto Kara’s shirt. Kara stopped as she passed the window and looked up at the sky. The city lights were too bright around her, and she only managed to find one star, shining brightly in the lone darkness.

“Lee, look!” she exclaimed happily, perhaps a little too loud, catching the 6-month-old (at least that’s what Alex had guessed Lena was now) by surprise and making her bottom lip wobble. “Oh, no Lee don’t cry please, I didn’t mean to be loud, I’m sorry.”

Kara hugged Lena a little closer. Soon enough the tears disappeared from her eyes and she turned her head a little while looking at Kara. Her little hand reached for Kara and she happily took a hold of Kara’s pinky when Kara offered it to her.

“Look at that star, Lee!” Kara paused a little, looking back at Lena to see if she was looking at the star. Lena’s eyes were fixed on the glowing ball and Kara grinned, at least Lena had understood that she was supposed to look at the star. (Not that she’d ever admit it, but she’d used her superspeed to look through the parenting book at the store and apparently Lena was _advanced_ , because most 6-month-olds don’t recognize the fact that their name refers to themselves yet, and Lena had already understood what ‘look!’ means.)

Kara spent a while looking at the star with Lena, noticing Lena’s eyes were starting to droop again and deciding to settle in for the night. She carefully padded over to the bedroom and set Lena down on the bed. The 6-month-old put her legs up in the air as she lay on her back and kicked the air lightly.

Kara finished making up the bed after a while, refraining from giving Lena a pillow to sleep on because she knew it was better for babies to sleep without a pillow. Lena’s tired eyes followed her around the room once in a while before drooping shut again, but her hands were clawing at the air, looking for something to hold onto.

A thought struck her, and Kara used her superspeed to quickly wash the stuffed animal and dry it before handing Nala to Lena. Lena’s hands immediately grabbed onto the soft plushie, and when Kara looked back at Lena to see if she was still awake, her eyes were shut, and both of her hands were clinging to the stuffed toy.

“Good night, Lee, sweet dreams.” Kara mumbled, pressing a soft kiss to Lena’s forehead and curling up beside her, careful not to lay too close to her. She was lucky she was never fully asleep and could make sure she didn’t squash Lena in her sleep. Kara focused on Lena’s steady heartbeat, and soon enough she fell asleep too.

***

“Ka,” the small sound awoke Kara from her slumber. Kara opened her eyes slowly, only to come face to face with two big green eyes staring at her own and Lena’s firm grip on her arm to hold herself up.

Kara quickly calculated in her head, she’d been about 6 months old yesterday at eleven pm, and it was currently nine hours later… meaning she was about 8 or 9 months now. Right, that meant it was about time for Lena to start making a lot more noise, which Kara was secretly thankful for.

“Ka!” Lena let out the same sound again and Kara mumbled something incoherent before sitting up and helping Lena crawl into her lap.

“What’s up, little Lee?” she stroked Lena’s hair, which had grown a lot since last night. Lena’s pajamas were a tight fit now, and Kara frowned. It was a pity, they were really cute pajamas.

Lena tilted her head to the side and sent Kara a happy smile. There were already a few parts of her new baby-teeth showing, and it made her smile more adorable.

“Well then, let’s go get breakfast, shall we?” Kara lifted Lena up and carried her into the kitchen, putting her down on the counter and telling her to stay. She didn’t really know if babies worked the same way as dogs, but Lena didn’t seem to mind and sat on the counter happily, watching as Kara busied around the kitchen. Lena made a few sounds and let out a screech-like ‘Ka!’ every once in a while, when she wanted Kara to look at her.

The book said Lena could eat (kind of) solid foods now, so Kara made her a bowl of oatmeal. The cans of powdered milk she’d bought turned out to be quite useless after all, Lena having grown so fast she’d almost skipped past that stage entirely. After they’d finished eating, Kara changed Lena’s diaper and dressed her in yet another outfit she’d picked out. This time she chose a yellow sundress with white polka dots and little white socks. She’d bought a yellow bow for the both of them, too, and decided to put that in her hair as well.

Lena didn’t have many pictures of herself as a kid, most of the pictures probably lost along with her birth mother. Lillian never bothered to take any pictures either, so Kara decided to take it upon herself to take a bunch of pictures. She walked over to the camera on the table, but when she tried to turn it on nothing happened. She figured the battery must have run out and plugged it in to charge. She still had another camera hidden somewhere in a cabinet, one that did turn on, and she placed Lena in front of her wall to take some pictures.

Baby Lena decided to try her hardest to ruin Kara’s pictures, but Kara ended up with a bunch of cute ones nevertheless. She let Lena play with Nala while she took some more, which ended up providing her with a bunch of cute pictures of Lena cuddling the stuffed lion.

Once Kara was satisfied she texted Alex asking her if she still needed to bring Lena to the DEO and her sister responded almost immediately, saying that if Lena hadn’t been behaving strangely she should be fine because all her vitals checked out and the only change seemed to have been the fact that Lena was now a baby. They went over a few development things, all of which Lena had either already showed or was ahead at. Kara grinned, feeling strangely proud of her best friend. Not that she wasn’t proud of Lena normally, but it was a bit different being proud of Lena for _growing teeth_ or _being able to make noises._

Alex teased Kara for a while, before asking her if she’d been feeling ‘mom-feels’ yet, as Alex had called them. Kara debated her answer before texting back a quick ‘no, actually’. Truth is, she didn’t feel a like a mother to baby Lena. She felt the same as she had when she’d taken care of Lena when she’d had the flu a few months ago. It was a weird feeling, but no, it definitely wasn’t motherly. Overprotective, maybe, but then again, she’d always been overprotective when it came to Lena, _especially_ after countless of assassination attempts.

‘Alex?’ Kara texted again after a while.

Alex’s response came right after hers delivered, a simple ‘yeah, Kar?’

‘What are we going to do about L-Corp?’

The text bubble popped up and disappeared a few times before Alex responded with ‘I’ll handle it. I think Lena has a CFO, but I’ll go check with her assistant. We can always use the DEO to our advantage… Governmental protection or something.’

Kara sent back a single emoji and shut off her phone, turning her attention back to Lena, who was using the furniture to pull herself up and walk around, threatening to topple over at any time but somehow always staying upright.

Kara quickly grabbed the camera from where it’d been charging and turned it on, pointing it at Lena who was still taking wobbly steps.

“Lee!” Lena turned her attention from the couch to Kara and gave her a toothy smile. “Come here, cutie!”

The hand that was currently gripping onto the couch hesitated, hovering a little before Lena took a step forward and padded over to Kara. She lost her balance in the last few steps, but Kara launched herself forward and caught her before she could fall, the camera laying forgotten on the ground.

“We’re both okay, right Lee?” she chuckled as she picked up the camera again and held it at arm’s distance this time to get herself in the frame as well. “Say hi to future Lee, little Lee!”

Lena was sat in Kara’s lap, staring at the camera with curiosity. She raised her arm ever so slightly and waved, making Kara grin from ear-to-ear and kiss Lena’s cheek with adoration.

Turning off the camera, Kara lifted Lena up with her and rested her on her hip. She decided to take Lena to the park and started putting on Lena’s jacket when she realized she hadn’t even bought her shoes.

“Shoot… Well then Lee, I guess we’re getting you some shoes first. The ducks will have to wait.” she tied the baby carrier around herself and strapped Lena into it, Lena’s feet kicking uselessly in the air and a loud giggle escaping her lips.

“Sure, laugh at me all you want, little Lee, but you forgot to take off your heels before going to bed once and tripped when you woke up…. So, HA.” it was a sad attempt and Kara knew it. Lena’s expression did nothing to help, either, the mocking (did babies even mock? She wasn’t sure) expression on her face feeling all too familiar.

“Ugh fine, you win, but let’s go. I want to find you those cute baby converse I always see on Pinterest.” Kara huffed, and Lena let out another random string of sounds happily, kicking her legs and waving her arms around. Before she left the apartment, Kara tucked the camera in her purse. Just in case.

It took Kara about ten minutes to get to the store, Lena’s socked feet safely being held by her two gloved hands to protect them from getting cold. Lena didn’t seem to mind the cold, her cheeks turning rosy and making Kara let out a small aw while at the same time making her worry if she’d underdressed Lena for the weather (she hadn’t).

The store was small and cozy, the smell of hot chocolate hitting Kara almost immediately. Lena was still delighted at her new surroundings, taking in everything with wide green eyes and reaching out her hand to certain things that caught her eye. The shoes were easy to locate, but the colors made it hard for Kara to choose. She settled on the red ones eventually and picked out the right size with the help of an employee.

“She’s adorable, is she yours?” The employee asked with a smile. She was a woman around the age of 30, Kara guessed, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and bright, grey eyes watching Lena.

“Oh! Uh, no, no she’s a friend of mine….” Kara almost grimaced as soon as she heard the sentence leave her mouth. Great, how was she going to explain that to the woman (Jenna, her nametag read).

“Oh, that’s absolutely wonderful! I watch my best friend’s kids too, sometimes, my daughter absolutely adores having them around.” Jenna smiled widely and took the shoebox from Kara, who’d settled on just leaving Lena’s new shoes on instead of having to put them on outside once she’d paid.

Kara nodded in response, getting another bright smile in return. She paid while chatting with Jenna, Lena looking at Jenna as she talked and gave Kara her change. A loud squeal made both women jump, the sudden sound Lena made taking them by surprise. Kara let out an awkward chuckle before Jenna started to laugh and she soon joined in. Kara caressed Lena’s head and the baby let out another happily squeal, making Kara smile. Jenna laughed fondly and said goodbye to them, waving with a little extra excitement to Lena once she noticed Lena waving back.

“She was nice, huh Lee?” Lena looked (or tried to at least) look up at her and made a few sounds before going back to looking at the passing people. It made Kara chuckle, the way Lena always responded with a few random sounds like she didn’t know Kara didn’t speak baby.

Kara walked in silence, listening to Lena’s squeals and the rare “Ka!” when she wanted her attention. The autumn wind was gentle, and the leaves were starting to turn yellow on some trees.

It didn’t take her long to reach the playground, kids running right past her from the moment she set foot on the grass. Kara sat with Lena on a bench for a while, perfectly content to just have Lena on her lap instead of in the carrier. There was a boy with short blond hair chasing another boy around the monkey bars, their laughter almost as loud to Kara as it’d have been had they been standing next to her.

“Miss?” the soft voice came from her right and Kara turned to look at the little girl standing next to her with a wide smile. The girl couldn’t have been older than six, maybe seven. Her dark brown hair was braided into two braids, one of them having lost a bunch of strands due to what Kara assumed had been playing.

“Hi, what’s your name?” Kara smiled again and lifted Lena so she could look at the girl as well. The girl shifted nervously, and her big, brown eyes stared at Kara for a while before drifting off to Lena.

“I’m Grace!” she squeaked out, her white teeth on full display as she smiled at Kara. She was missing one of her front teeth.

“Well, Grace, I’m Kara.” Kara patted the space on the bench next to her and watched as Grace hopped onto it. “What did you want to ask?”

“I-uh… What’s h-her name?” Grace stuttered a little, but the small finger pointing at Lena made Kara smile.

“This is Lena,” Kara looked at Lena, catching the small girl’s attention. “Lee, say hello!”

 “Ello!” the burst of sound from Lena made Grace giggle and she carefully took Lena’s outstretched hand in her own.

“My ma’s having a baby too… She says I’m going to get a baby brother or sister, but I hope it’s a girl.” Grace was still a bit shy, but she was talking and smiling while playing with Lena, so Kara was sure she’d feel more at ease soon enough.

“I want my baby sister to be just like her, she doesn’t cry like my friend’s baby brother does.” Grace pointed at Lena again.

“When babies cry it means they’re healthy, or hungry. Lena cries too when she’s hungry, she’s just a little older now so she doesn’t cry as often anymore. I bet if you ask your mom, she’ll say that you used to cry just as much, too.” Kara chuckled a bit and smiled as Grace frowned.

“But I don’t like it when they cry, it hurts my ears.” she covered her ears to prove her point, and Kara laughed softly.

“Well, wanna know a secret?” Kara hadn’t finished saying ‘secret’ before Grace was nodding happily, another smile playing on her lips.

“If you’re really nice to your little brother or sister, and give them lots of hugs, they’ll cry less.”

“Okay!” Grace jumped off the bench and sent Kara a smile so wide she’d have sworn the girl’s cheeks were going to hurt afterward. “I’m going to be the best big sister ever, and then my little sister won’t ever cry!”

Kara laughed and lifted Lena up so she could stand on her lap.

“I’m going to tell mommy now! Bye!” Grace hurriedly waved at Kara and Lena before running off to find her mother, leaving Kara on the bench with Lena, a smile still playing at her lips.

It took Kara some time to get Lena to sit still long enough to get her strapped into the carrier, but after a while of clumsily trying to fasten the strap, she was all set to go. She turned around to head to her apartment but instead came face-to-face with a woman. The woman was sporting a big baby bump, and her blonde hair was in a tight bun, some strands sticking out a little.

“Hello, you must be Kara,” Kara frowned, but her eyes caught sight of Grace shyly holding the woman’s hand, so she nodded. “I’m Cheryl, Grace’s mom.”

Kara shook the woman’s hand, eyeing the perfectly manicured nails. They were painted to perfection, the deep red color coating them almost the same color as her suit. Cheryl’s eyes were directed at Lena, going over her from head to toe. She pursed her lips ever so slightly like she wasn’t satisfied with the way Lena looked, the action angered Kara. Nevertheless, she decided to control her temper and be polite.

“Hello, nic-“ the woman cut her off, not unlike the way Cat always did; as if she hadn’t even realized Kara had been talking.

“Grace was just telling me about you and your daughter, and you look like you can be trusted, so I’d like to offer you a job. Grace’s last babysitter just quit, and I need someone to watch her for tomorrow. If you do a good job, I might even ask you again.” Cheryl raised one eyebrow in question, clearly waiting for Kara to answer. It wasn’t unlike the way Lena would often do, but while Lena didn’t do it with any kind of arrogance, Cheryl did.

“I- uhm… That’s very kind of you to offer bu-“ Kara was about to decline but the woman had already handed her a card and a couple of 50 dollar bills.

“Do a good job tomorrow and I’ll double those. Come on, Grace, you have to go to your piano lessons with Mrs. Zhung.” she grabbed Grace’s hand again, the one she’d let go to retrieve the card from her purse, and dragged her (rather roughly, according to Kara) away. “Call me at exactly 9:30 pm, I’ll be waiting.”

Kara shook her head. How come she always managed to get into these kinds of situations? Alex had told her it was because she was too kind, but that couldn’t be it. (Could it?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the last chapter, please comment & give kudos! I love seeing all the feedback, even if I don't respond sometimes (I promise I do read every single one of your comments)!
> 
> If you want to chat you can hit me up on Tumblr @Eastenra, feel free to yell at me about SuperCorp!  
> I'm also in a SuperCorp Discord group, so if you want to join message me on Tumblr :D


	3. Caught in the middle of it all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, I'm back with another update! Thank you so much for all the amazing feedback, I truly appreciate it!
> 
> As always, all mistakes are mine. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> The chapter title is from Waves by Dean Lewis (which is quite a sad song, but to be honest I only listen to sad songs nowadays).

She headed back to her apartment, pointing out different things to Lena along the way. She might’ve gotten sidetracked by a bakery selling freshly made waffles, but Lena seemed to enjoy the few bites she ate, so it was worth it.

Her phone rang just as she’d gotten back to her apartment and freed Lena from the carrier. Lena was watching her while she rummaged through her purse looking for her phone. Cat’s name was glowing brightly on the screen and Kara mumbled out some Kryptonian words (of course, she couldn’t let Lena hear any cuss words, but they weren’t entirely too nice either).

“Kiera.” the sound wasn’t much of a question as it was a statement. How the woman managed to fit a threat in just her name (actually, it wasn’t even her name) Kara still didn’t understand.

“Uh, yes, Miss Grant?” Kara held her breath, whenever Cat bothered to actually call her instead of message her she usually wanted something big, or she was mad ( _very_ mad).

“You do know that for you to become a reporter, you have to actually have to sho-“ Cat’s sentence was cut short by Lena, who started crying loudly after having fallen while trying to walk over to her Nala.

“Oh! Shoot, I’m sorry Miss Grant, I’ll be right back!” she put her phone down on the counter and hurried over to Lena, scooping her up in her arms and rocking her back and forth to get her to quiet down.

“Shhh Lena, it’s okay, you’re okay,” she whispered softly, Lena’s teary eyes looking up at her before she kept on crying. After trying basically anything she could come up with, Kara started softly singing a Kryptonian lullaby and Lena, surprisingly, stopped crying immediately and stared at Kara in wonder.

Kara finished the song soon after (okay, she might have cut it a little short because Cat was waiting for her and Cat did _not_ like to be kept waiting). After making sure Lena wasn’t going to burst out crying again, she walked back over to the phone, Lena still perched on her hip.

“I’m so so sorry Miss Grant, she fell and-“ Kara was rambling. She knew she was rambling, but that’s what happens when she’s nervous and _Rao_ , she’s really nervous.

“Kiera.” Cat’s warning tone stopped her mid-sentence. “It’s fine. I was going to ask you why you’ve been gone for so long but I guess I no longer have to ask. Congratulations.”

“Oh, uhm, thank you Miss Grant…. Wait, what?! No, she’s not mine, uh…. she’s the daughter of a friend of mine and she asked me to watch her so-“

“Breathe, Kiera.” Cat’s voice was stern but Kara could almost hear the smile in her voice.

“Y-yeah, yeah, okay.” she exhaled slowly through her nose before mumbling a small apology. Cat laughed and told her not to worry about it, all of the threats she’d made suddenly forgotten.

“I’ll make sure Mr. Carr hears about your temporary leave… How does the rest of the week sound?”

Kara frowned, was Cat seriously asking her how long she wanted off?

“Uh, that’s really nice of you Miss Grant, b-but I-“ she was cut off, _again._ If it hadn’t been Cat she was talking to, she’d for sure have snapped at her already.

“Nonsense, Kara, go enjoy the little one.” she knew Cat was smiling for sure now, the sound of her name (her actual name! Not Kiera!) with the special tone Cat somehow always reserved for her causing a smile to form on her own face as well.

The call disconnected before Kara managed to thank Cat again, and she shook her head with a smile. Cat might be stern sometimes, and absolutely exhausting, but she’s sure something.

“Well, little Lee, looks like you’ve got me all to yourself the coming week, and after you might even be able to join me to work.” Kara ran her hand over Lena’s head softly and Lena smiled widely at her, the few teeth that had appeared overnight making the smile even cuter.

Lena’s attention drifted off after a while before she looked back at Kara and made grabbing motions with her hands.

“Nala!” Kara’s mouth dropped, before nodding silently and bending over to pick up the stuffed animal. She held Lena securely against her, but Lena only seemed to enjoy the shift in gravity and let out a delighted squeal.

The camera was still in Kara’s purse and Kara struggled to turn herself away from Lena, who was now happily repeating ‘Nala’ over and over and she played with the stuffed animal. She was still slightly baffled because Lena had gone from ‘Ka!’ to a full word (well, name) in about four hours.

By the time Kara had turned the camera on and pointed it to Lena, she had grown silent and was just staring at the camera.

“Come on, little Lee! Say it again!” Lena stayed silent and reached out to the camera.

“Lee, please?” Lena turned her head slightly and smiled a little at Kara. (Honest to Rao, Kara believed she was mocking her.)

“Okay, okay, fine, who’s that?” Kara’s hand entered the frame as she pointed to Lena’s stuffed animal.

“Nala!” Lena said happily, grabbing Nala and pulling her closer to herself.

Kara smiled and let out a happy ‘good job!’, before tugging Lena into her lap and turning the camera to get the both of them on screen. Kara’s proud smile was perfectly visible as she kissed Lena’s cheek and made the toddler let out another happy squeal.

Eventually, the camera turned off and plugged into the charger, Kara picked Lena up from the ground (making sure to take Nala along) and sat the both of them down on the couch. Lena’s back was leaning against Kara’s arm and she was turned slightly so she could play with Nala in Kara’s lap. She’d changed Lena’s diaper before sitting down (although she’d almost forgotten), but Lena had been getting uncomfortable and was tugging at her dress, so Kara got the hint.

The parenting book had mentioned something about midday naps, and—while it was 6 pm and Kara might be a little late—Kara was determined to read Lena her favorite poem growing up. Her aunt had always read it to her before bed, and Kara knew the entire thing by heart. She’d written it down one night the first year she’d come to Earth, and Eliza had made drawings to go along with the Kryptonian words none of the Danvers’ could read, except for Kara. The poem was by a Kryptonian poet, one of many, but one of the only ones who wrote about love. The standard matches you were set up with on Krypton didn’t have anything to do with love, but Astra always told Kara that if she could find love, she should fight for it. Her aunt was one of the only ones on Krypton to marry out of love, and Kara always told herself that one day, she would too.

Lena sat in her lap, her childhood journal full of Kryptonian—the one she hadn’t dared to open for years—held securely in her hands and Kara breathed in once, twice, before turning the pages until she found the multicolored pages. Her fingers traced the letter she hadn’t seen in ages, and before she noticed what was happening, she felt tears rolling down her cheeks.

Her eyes wandered away from her journal and fell on Lena. She wasn’t doing much, just sitting in silence and playing with Nala’s tail, but as Kara thought back to the Lena she knew, the one she’d spent hours with sitting on this same couch, she saw the same person in the both of them. Lena’s tendency to fidget with different materials were already showing, and her silent curiosity for the world Kara knew she normally hid in quick glances and small eyebrow raises were now on full display. The familiarity filled Kara with a love she didn’t even know she was capable of feeling, and no matter what Alex had said, it wasn’t motherly, but it made her feel at home.

She bent forward to place a small kiss on top of Lena’s head before taking a ragged breath and letting the words she’d pushed deep down inside her fill her mouth and enter the empty room. Lena kept watching her through the entire thing, Kara’s voice calming her and, slowly, her eyes began to droop, and she slumped against Kara.

Kara flipped through her journal some more, eyeing the letters carefully, as if they’d bite her if she wasn’t careful. The pages were filled with tear-stained Kryptonian poems and songs, but there was one that caught her eye. It was by the same poet, and she’d sing it with her aunt while they danced around the kitchen when her parents weren’t home. She started humming it as she was reading it, and eventually softly sang the lyrics while rocking Lena ever so slightly when she began to stir.

The lyrics were full of love and Kara’s soft affection made them seem almost angelic, the sound of an (almost) extinct language easily settling in the air and in Kara’s chest, creating a wonderful kind of feeling. Kara spent the rest of the day reading through her journals and copied some of her favorite ones over into her current journal.

Lena slept for about three hours, and Kara barely noticed when she woke up, too engrossed in the feeling of home that had finally found her way back into her heart. The young toddler sat up quietly, watching Kara as she walked around her room—almost flying, but still slightly grounded—and talked on and on in her native language, enjoying the way the words fell from her lips.

Lena was still slightly dazed from her nap, and fully content just watching Kara. Her stomach, however, didn’t agree and soon enough the ache of emptiness forced her to let out a strangled cry. Kara’s head turned, some sort of Kryptonian greeting falling from her lips almost instantly.

“ _Did you wake up in Rao’s light, Little Lee_?” it was the Kryptonian version of good morning, three Kryptonian words strung together but translated into a full English sentence.

Lena didn’t seem to mind the foreign language and happily nodded while mumbling back something Kara thought resembled ‘yes’. She didn’t think much of it, after all, she’d heard Lena say a lot of random things throughout the day. It had to be a coincidence.

“Well, let’s get you something to eat, hm? How does some mac and cheese sound?” she received another enthusiastic sound (which Kara decided to just take as a ‘yes’) from Lena in response. Picking up one of the stacking toys she’d bought and putting it in front of Lena to keep her busy, Kara made her way to the kitchen.

Alex had replaced all of Kara’s macaroni boxed with the whole-wheat kind about a week ago, so Kara figured that might even make it healthier (something adult-Lena would probably thank her for). It didn’t take her long to get two plates ready (and a bunch of leftovers, which she was pretty sure she’d be eating later tonight), so Kara made her way to the table and set them both down, alongside a glass of water for herself and a Sippy cup for Lena.

Lena had already started making her way to Kara as soon as Kara walked over to the table, so Kara decided to just let her try. Lena ended up surprising her and actually made it to her leg, having crossed all the way from the couch to her dining room table without anything to hold onto.

“Good job, little Lee! Now, let’s eat, I’m starving!” Kara carefully set Lena on her knee and fed her the first bite, Lena’s happy smile as soon as she tasted the food already making the time it took for Kara to make the sauce worthwhile. While Lena was chewing, Kara would take bites of her own.

The plates were soon both empty, and Kara wasted no time, using her super speed to put everything in the dishwasher. She took Lena along with her to the couch and turned the TV on, The Lion King coming up almost immediately when she clicked on her Netflix account.

They spent the rest of the afternoon watching the movie, Lena’s attention drifting to Kara a few times, but overall, she watched the moving pictures on the TV contently. Kara didn’t pay as much attention, instead settling on flipping through a few more pages of her journal and unconsciously reading some things out loud.

Kara’s alarm went off not that long after the movie ended, signally that she had to call Cheryl to go over the details of her apparent babysitting job. She quickly entered the number and hit dial, the standard calling tune playing while she played with Lena’s hair, who was sleepily looking up at Kara and hugging Nala to her chest. The call connected, and Kara opened her mouth to speak.

“Hi Cheryl, this is Kara, I’m-“

“Pick her up around 7:30 am, it’s the big villa at the end of Newton-street, you can’t miss it. My head maid Eve will hand you a pamphlet with everything you need to know, allergies, likes, dislikes, etc. I expect her back at home at 8:30 pm on the dot—no sooner, no later. Is that clear, Kara?” Kara swallowed heavily before croaking out a “yes, ma’am”. Something about Cheryl made her feel like she was in high school again with Mrs. Smith, her stern Geography teacher who could scare the whole class into silence with a simple glare.

Lena had fallen asleep by the time Cheryl hung up, and Kara had moved the both of them to bed not so soon after changing Lena into her pajamas (which were adorned with small white dots and a unicorn). Kara hadn’t noticed how much the day had worn her out and went to bed at the same time as Lena, the toddler’s steady heartbeat calming her almost instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small note, the Kryptonian version of good morning is not based on anything and 100% made up by me, so I apologize if it bugged you.


	4. Everything Is Yours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with yet another chapter of Little Lee & Kara's Adventures As A Mom-Friend (Literally)TM!  
> (small side note: that's actually what the fic is called on my computer)
> 
> Anygays, I hope you enjoy the new chapter! It's a bit shorter than my usual chapters but I've been insanely busy and completed overloaded with work so I barely managed to write this in between working on my three essays and studying. 
> 
> The song title, for once, isn't from anything (blame me for not being able to find any fitting songs lol).

“Up!” Kara opened her eyes to find herself staring into two wide green ones. Lena had put her face so close to Kara’s that it almost made her scream (almost, luckily, because she wouldn’t have wanted to scare Lena). A wide grin formed on Kara’s face and she sat up. Lena crawled onto her lap almost immediately and smiled at her. She’d gained another tooth, Kara noticed.

It’d been another day, along with about 8 hours in the morning, meaning Lena was around 13-14 months.

Kara glanced at the clock, which read 6:04. I guess there’s really no sleeping in with a toddler, after all, Kara sighed before yawning with a sleepy smile.

“Good morning, little Lee! You’re already 1 year old, wow, you grow up so fast.” Kara made a show of wiping away a ‘tear’ before letting her face break into a big smile, earning a happy giggle from Lena.

Struggling to stand up on Kara’s legs, Lena tugged on Kara’s hand and raised her arms in the air.

“Up!” Lena’s voice was small, but there was already a small hint of what would later become Lena’s stern ‘business voice’. Kara laughed and lifted Lena up with her as she walked into the kitchen.

“Oatmeal again, Lee?” Kara looked back at Lena, who was busy trying to reach the banana Kara had placed on the counter the night before. She shook her head with a smile before placing the box of oatmeal in front of Lena.

“No!” the answer came almost as soon as she’d placed the box down. It was quickly followed by two ‘crossed’ arms (Lena didn’t really manage to cross them, just lay them on top of each other on her chest).

“Hmmm… Well, how about cornflakes then?” this earned Kara a smile and a nod from Lena, so she started preparing the bowl.

It didn’t take Lena long to finish her small bowl of cornflakes (with a little help from Kara, of course) and Kara went along her little ritual easily. She helped Lena brush her teeth, which actually ended up with Lena getting bored in the middle of brushing and Kara continuing the last 30 seconds for her. Kara gave Lena a short bath, put a new diaper on her and dressed her in yet another cute outfit. She’d settled on a flowery black jumper and avocado socks which altogether made Lena look like the adorable tiny nature lover that she was.

Newton Street wasn’t too far from her apartment, maybe a 15-minute walk, so she didn’t have to worry about being late (yet). Kara had set Lena down near her “toy corner” (as Kara had come to call it) so that she wouldn’t get fussy while Kara showered and changed. She kept one ear on the sounds Lena was making as she played, even while showering, to make sure Lena didn’t hurt herself or cry without her noticing.

When Kara was completely dressed as well, wearing matching avocado socks, Kara packed a bag of things to take along during the walk. Stuffing a pack of band-aids, some snacks, a water bottle, her phone, and purse into the bag, Kara put on her coat.

“Ready to go, Lee?” she glanced at the fully dressed toddler (complete with her coat, shoes, and tiny gloves, too) before lifting her up to carry her down the stairs. Lena was fully content to just play with Kara’s hair while they descended the stairs, squirming a little when she saw something that caught her attention. They were leaving a little early, but she’d tried to calculate the fact that Lena wasn’t a very fast walker yet by the time she guessed it’d take them to get there.

The walk went smoothly, Lena deciding halfway that she didn’t want to walk anymore and chanting “up!” a few times before Kara gave in and just carried her the rest of the way. Lena was pointing out things while they walked, sometimes saying a new word which caused Kara to smile widely. Lena must’ve noticed, because not soon after she was saying a bunch of new words, sometimes adding Kara’s name when Kara (which had gone from “Ka” to “Ka’a”, the ‘r’ still slightly difficult for Lena to pronounce) didn’t look immediately.

Cheryl’s mansion came into view not soon after they’d passed the park, the street full of big, fancy houses causing Lena to grow quiet. She was still watching but clinging to Kara a little more and barely responding when Kara pointed something out to her.

Glancing at her watch, which said 7:29, Kara lifted her hand to ring the doorbell. The loud sound scared Lena, who buried her head in Kara’s neck to hide.

A woman around her mid-forties opened the door, her outfit almost like those out of a movie, but her smile was warm, and she greeted Kara with a kindness that reminded her of Eliza. Her smile widened even more when she noticed Lena.

“Hi sweethearts, Mrs. Larsen left already, but I’ve got everything you need right here.” she took Kara’s empty hand and gently pulled her through the hallways to the living room. Grace was already fully dressed and sitting on a chair near the window. Her eyes lit up when she saw Kara and Lena approach and she immediately ran over. “Grace? Miss Kara is here to pick you up.”

“Hi, Miss Kara!” Grace’s hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and her dress was probably more expensive than any of Kara’s dresses. “Ma left this here for you.”

Grace’s extended hand held a small pile of papers, along with a note from Cheryl about making Grace finish her math homework. Kara reached out to take them, but the maid had taken them and was putting them in a duffle bag full of what appeared to be clothes and a bunch of other things.

“Mrs. Larsen always makes her wear fancy dresses, but she’d be livid if they became dirty, so I packed her a sweater and one of the jeans we secretly keep around here.” the maid handed her the bag before sending her a small smile and leading the three of them to the door.

Grace waved at all the other maids who’d lined up in the hallway, receiving a bunch of waves and thumbs up from all of them. The cook handed her a cookie, which she’d finished before the reached the door.

“Bye, Eve!” the head maid—Eve, as Grace had called her—smiled, sending them a wave before closing the door behind them.

Grace walked a little in front of Kara, looking back a few times to see if Kara was still following her. Once they’d left the property she slowed down to walk next to Kara, who was still carrying Lena.

“Miss Kara?” Kara looked down, smiling a little when she saw that Grace was fidgeting with the cuffs of her coat. “May I hold your hand? Ma says I’m too old to hold her hand, but busy streets scare me and I don’t want to get lost.”

“Of course, and your ma’s wrong, Grace, you’re never too old to hold hands. I still hold hands, and I’m wayyy older than you!” she ruffled the girl’s hair and held her hand out for Grace to take, which she did, after eyeing it cautiously.

“Okay, but don’t tell ma, she’ll get mad at me.” Kara frowned but didn’t ask any questions after seeing Grace’s sad expression.

“I’m a bit cold, are you cold, Lee?” Lena’s face was still slightly hidden in Kara’s neck, but she turned a little at the sound of her name and sent Kara toothy smile. “Mhm, I figured…. How about we go get some hot chocolate?”

Grace’s face lit up and she happily picked up speed, dragging Kara along with her.

“I want hot chocolate too! Please?” Grace was looking at her with such hope-filled eyes that Kara couldn’t help but pick her up as well, now carrying both Lena and Grace in either arm, along with a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. It didn’t take her much effort, but she received some curious glances from the people walking past. It wasn’t impossible for humans, though, she’d seen some dads do it before, so why shouldn’t she?

There was a little hot beverage stall at the edge of the park, and Kara happily carried the two talking children to it. Grace had gotten Lena to say more words as she told the toddler about school and the sky (something she was apparently fascinated by).

Two empty cups of hot chocolate later—Kara having shared with Lena—and they were on their way again. Her apartment building was coming into view and she quickly put Grace down to get her keys from her handbag (which she’d put in the duffle bag to make them easier to carry). Grace quietly followed her up the stairs and through the door of her apartment, taking in her surroundings with wide eyes filled with wonder.

Someone cleared their throat and Kara spun around. Her eyes fell on Alex, who was sitting at her kitchen island with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

“Care to explain how you’ve managed to gain a kid to take care of?” she asked, gesturing to Grace, who was now shyly hiding behind Kara.

“Alex! I- uh… Hi? I swear I didn’t mean to! I just… she talked to me at the park and her mom asked me to babysit her because her last babysitter quit and… well, she didn’t really ask, she didn’t even let me finish my sentences, b-but that’s okay becaus-“

“Kara.” Alex laughed and shook her head fondly. “Why do these things always happen to you?”

“I don’t know! That’s what I thought too!”

“Well then, who do we have here?” Alex got up from the chair and bent over a little to look at Grace.

“I- uhm… My name is Grace, ma’am.” Grace was pulling at her cuffs again, nervously twisting the fabric between her hands while looking at the ground.

“Well, hi Grace. I’m Alex, Kara’s older sister.” Alex hadn’t even finished talking before Grace’s eyes shot up and she stepped out from behind Kara.

“I’m going to be a big sister too! Ma’s having a baby!” Alex looked a little taken aback at the girl’s enthusiasm, having expected it to take more to get the girl to warm up to her.

Kara started pulling Lena’s coat off, followed by her own and both of their shoes. Grace was still happily talking with Alex about her new sibling and didn’t seem to mind when Kara started unzipping her coat as well. As soon as all of their coats were hung and their shoes off, Alex took Grace over to the couch and Kara started grabbing a few snacks to put on the table for the four of them.

Lena was watching her from the ground while playing with Nala, sometimes wandering off to the couch to watch Alex and Grace talk.

“Kara used to sleepwalk, and we’d find her in all sorts of places in the middle of the night. She even crawled onto the dining table once.” Grace was giggling, but Kara came rushing back into the living room. Alex hadn’t mentioned that she didn’t sleepwalk, but rather sleepflied (luckily), but the stories were embarrassing nevertheless.

“Aleexx! You promised you’d never tell anyone!”

“It’s okay Miss Kara! I won’t tell anyone!” Grace pretending to zip her lips and threw the key away before smiling widely at Kara.

Kara squinted her eyes while looking at the both of them, Alex with a smug smile on her face and Grace happily smiling up at her.

“Fine, but you better not tell anyone either Alex.” she jutted her lower lip out and watched as Alex crossed her heart before sticking out her tongue. Grace was laughing loudly through their entire interaction, her tight ponytail swishing from side-to-side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the last chapter, please comment & give kudos! I love seeing all the feedback, even if I don't respond sometimes (I promise I do read every single one of your comments)!
> 
> If you want to chat you can hit me up on Tumblr @Eastenra, feel free to yell at me about SuperCorp!
> 
> For those of you who have been asking, Grace won't be taking over the fic. She'll just be around sometimes because she's my baby (and I love her :3 ) so don't worry it won't take away from any of Kara's time with little Lee.


	5. Underneath these stormy skies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, wow I'm on a roll, aren't I? I'm sorry guys my school isn't all that great at handling workloads, which means I've been super busy. Anygays, I hope you enjoy the chapter!   
> Any mistakes are mine, I didn't proofread this all that well so my apologies for any and all mistakes. 
> 
> P.S. the chapter title is from "Paradise" by George Ezra.

Kara headed back to the kitchen to get the bowls of snacks, which consisted of a few kinds of candy, some carrots and cucumbers (because the parenting book said healthy snack are important), and some potato chips. She placed the bowls on the table and Grace immediately grabbed some candy, while Alex took a sip of her soda.

“That ponytail can’t be comfortable, want me to brush your hair and braid it?” Grace nodded happily, so Alex tugged at her ponytail and tried to loosen it as much as she could before pulling the hair tie out gently.

Kara sat down next to Lena and started playing with her while attempting to teach her some things along the way.

“Hey Kar?” Alex called from the couch after she’d finished braiding Grace’s hair into a loose French braid. She received a small hum from Kara, who turned around when she heard her name.

“Do you want to go visit Nemo?”

Kara’s face lit up and she immediately started cleaning up the toys Lena had been playing with. Nemo was a name she’d given to one of National City Zoo’s lemurs. She’d watched the movie before going to the zoo with Alex, and when the zookeeper asked if she had any name suggestions for the baby lemur that had just been born, she’d blurted out Nemo.

Alex had already started packing up the snacks so they could take them to the zoo. Grace was firing question after question at Alex about what she was doing and why, but Alex gave a vague answer every time.

“Come on Lee,” Kara reached her hand out to Lena and a small hand grabbed it almost immediately after. Kara led her over to the coat hanger, grabbing Lena’s jacket to put it on her.

Grace had settled on putting her own jacket on and was happily bouncing on her feet next to Alex who had almost put on her own jacket as well.

“Allleeexx, she won’t stay still!” Kara turned to Alex, pouting the entire time while Lena was trying to get away from her.

Alex let out a loud laugh before shaking her head and taking over from Kara, using something to distract Lena so she stood still long enough for Alex to finish putting her jacket on her.

“Alright, let’s go,” Alex took Grace’s hand while Kara carried Lena as they headed down the stairs. The zoo wasn’t too far from Kara’s apartment, and they reached it after walking for about 15 minutes.

Grace was awestruck and for once, didn’t say anything.

“Ka’a,” Lena was tugging on Kara’s hair while trying to turn around in her grasp. “Ka’a, ‘ion!”

There was a huge lion statue in front of the zoo, along with a bunch of other animals, but Lena’s attention seemed to be solely focused on the lion.

“Yeah Lee, that’s a lion!” Kara smiled before helping Lena turn around and pointing at the second animal. She figured that since Lena knew the lion, maybe she knew the other animals too. “What’s that?”

“Eh, a Gi’affe!”

“Good job Lee!” Kara was about to ask for the next animal when Alex called her name from where she was standing near the entrance.

“Come on Kara, we don’t have all day! This one here is about ready to bolt and I’m so _not_ up for having to look through the entire zoo to find her!” Kara let out a laugh before shouting back a ‘fine!’ and running over.

Lena didn’t seem to mind the bouncing and made happy noises the entire time, the small black curls on her head bouncing along and hitting her on the noise every once in a while.

They went to go see the otters first because they’re Grace’s favorite animal and she insisted they see them first. The otters were just being fed by a keeper, who narrated the entire process for the small group of people watching him.

They went through the big cats next, Lena sometimes excitedly pointing out species.

Kara handed Lena a piece of cucumber while they were waiting for Alex to return with their drinks from the little restaurant. There was a peacock walking around loose a little away from them, but it wasn’t doing anything.

“Miss Kara! Miss Kara! Alex got me a milkshake!” Grace was smiling brightly while holding a small milkshake with a purple straw. “She said I could pick anything I wanted! Ma never lets me choose.”

“That’s great Grace!” Kara opened her mouth to say something to Alex who had just gotten back too but was interrupted by a loud screech and a lot of crying.

Lena had crawled all the way to the other side of Kara and was sobbing loudly, the peacock about 15 feet from her having displayed his tail feathers, scaring Lena enough to make her cry.

“Kara? Is Lena scared of peacocks?” Alex asked, trying not to talk too loudly.

“I don’t know, she’s never mentioned it if she is…” Kara frowned while trying to remember if Lena had ever told her about anything related to peacocks, but she came up empty-handed. Why would they even have talked about peacocks anyways?

Lena was still sobbing while Kara bounced her up and down in a failed attempt to get her to calm down.

“Hey Kar, I’m taking Grace to get some ice cream, you try to calm her down okay?” Alex received a nod from Kara, so she took Grace’s hand and walked back to the small restaurant.

“Shhh Lee, please stop crying, the peacock is gone, see?” Lena’s eyes stayed screwed shut, her crying never stopping even a little.

Kara tried her best to think of something to help. She’d left Nala at home, so that couldn’t work.

“Hey Lee, remember this?” Kara silently prayed it’d work, before opening her mouth and very quietly singing she same Kryptonian song she’d sung the prior afternoon.

Lena’s crying gradually slowed down through the entire song. She was watching Kara with two teary eyes, her cheeks still stained from the tears.

Alex came back with Grace halfway through the song, her jaw almost hitting the ground when she heard her sister sing the song she used to sob the entire night when she first found out she couldn’t go home.

“Hey bug, we’re going to wait for Kara to finish okay?” Alex whispered in Grace’s ear, waiting for her to nod. When she did they both sat down on the grass a small distance away from where Kara was still singing.

Grace spent the entire time Kara was singing playing with Alex’s sleeves and eating her ice cream, but as soon as Kara stopped singing she jumped up and sprinted over.

“Miss Kara may I give Lena some of my ice cream?” two wide brown eyes were looking at Kara with that special spark she saw in Lena’s eyes too, and she was immediately won over. Not that giving Lena ice cream is something she needed to be won over for.

“Sure, what flavor did you get?”

“Blueberry! Eve makes it at home sometimes and, uh, they never sell it anywhere. But they do here!” Grace had begun to slowly feed Lena small scoops of ice cream with the second spoon she took from the restaurant. Lena’s wide smile after the first spoon making her giggle.

“Hey Kar? Can I talk to you for a bit?” Alex’s voice came from behind her, so Kara turned around and gave her a small nod.

“Hey Lee, I’m going to be right back, okay?” she softly caressed Lena’s head and ran her fingers through her soft toddler hair before walking to where Alex was standing. They were far enough so that Grace couldn’t hear them, and no other people could either.

“Kara you were singing a song from Krypton!” Alex hissed into Kara’s ear, but her face was full of mixed emotions. “I haven’t heard you even say a word in Kryptonian for years and now suddenly you’re singing!”

“Oh, I uh…. Yeah… I sang to her yesterday when she was crying, and I read through my old notebook and I just… I realized how much I missed it all. Not just Krypton, but the language, the poetry, art, everything.” Kara swallowed heavily. “I guess I just realized how sad it would be if I let all that die out, you know?”

Alex nodded slowly before pulling her sister in for a hug.

“It’s okay Kara,” she pressed a soft kiss to the side of Kara’s head before she let go and took Kara’s hand. “Now come on, we have two little bugs waiting for us to take them to see Nemo.”

Grace had finished her ice cream, having fed Lena a little but not too much, and was talking to Lena while continuously glancing in their direction. Kara had picked up on her talking about animals and how she thought Lena would be a black panther if she were an animal.

“Well ladies, are you ready to see the rest of the zoo?”

“Yes!” Grace jumped up almost immediately, Lena clumsily trying to follow her lead and eventually managing to stand.

“Yes!” Lena mirrored before looking back at Grace for approval.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow my fic keeps putting the end note from my first chapter under every chapter, I have no clue how to fix it so I'm sorry if it bothers you.   
> Anygays, please comment & give kudos! I'll make sure the next chapter is longer! 
> 
> Feel free to come talk to me on Tumblr @Eastenra!


	6. It's like nothing has changed at all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for the long wait, I had a holiday in between and I honestly didn't feel like writing for a while. In my opinion, it's better not to write for a while if you're not feeling it, rather than writing something terrible because you're forcing yourself. All mistakes are mine, I didn't want to wait any longer to upload this so I didn't proofread.   
> Anygays, I hope you enjoy the chapter! 
> 
> P.S. the title is inspired by "Pompeii" by Bastille.

The four of them set out into the rest of the zoo, eventually ending up at the aquarium and the reptile house.

“Come on, we’ll do the reptiles first and then end with the aquarium,” Alex laughed when Kara’s face lit up at the mention of the aquarium.

The air inside of the reptile house was warm and damp, but Lena didn’t seem to mind and happily waddled over to one of the snake terrariums. Grace, however, set one foot inside before pulling on Alex’s hand.

“Alex? I don’t like it in there…” Grace was fumbling with her sleeve again and looking down at her feet. Alex squeezed her hand a little before looking up at Kara.

“I’m going to wait for you two outside with Grace and help her with her math homework, okay Kar?” Kara nodded with a small smile before walking back over to Lena.

Lena was busy looking at the terrariums, but most of the snakes in them were too difficult for her to spot or were hidden. She didn’t seem to mind, though, and moved onto the next glass wall whenever she got bored of the last one.

They tried to find as many animals as they could, Kara often pretending not to see a snake that was right in front of her so that Lena could point it out to her. Kara had taken the camera out from her bag and was filming Lena while she excitedly pointed out all the reptiles.

“Look, Lee, it’s a black king snake!” Kara pointed at the solid black snake which was slithering over the floor of the terrarium before it disappeared into a fake cave.

Lena’s eyes were stuck on the fake cave the snake disappeared into before she yawned and turned to look at Kara with a sleepy smile. Kara chuckled and turned the camera off and tucked it back into her bag.

“Come on Lee, let’s go back to Alex and Grace.” Kara picked Lena up and Lena easily took Kara’s shirt in her hand and let her head lean against Kara’s collarbone.

By the time the four of them were in the aquarium, Lena was asleep. Kara had handed Lena over to Alex as soon as they entered the aquarium so that she could run around with Grace and look at the countless of fish.

“Miss Kara, look at this fish!” Grace had pressed herself against the glass and was pointing at a small red and white fish hiding among the corals. The fish seemed shy, which kind of reminded Kara of Grace herself, but once one of the other red and white fish joined it they swam out into the open.

“They’re all pretty fish, aren’t they?” Grace nodded excitedly in response before calling Alex and telling her to look at the fish too.

The loud noise woke Lena up, and when she couldn’t spot Kara her lower lip started to wobble before she burst out crying.

“Shhh, Lena you’re okay, Kara’s right over there!” Alex was rocking Lena up and down, but she started struggling against Alex’s hold as soon as she spotted Kara. Alex placed her on the ground before Lena fell off her lap, and Lena immediately started walking over to Kara.

Kara was still excitedly talking about the fish with Grace, but when Lena wrapped her arms around her leg she simply laughed before lifting her up.

“Did Grace wake you up, Lee?” Lena didn’t answer, instead, she just cuddled close to Kara before falling asleep.

They’d almost finished the aquarium too, and Grace was slowly getting more tired, so Kara headed back over to Alex and they started heading home.

As soon as they were back at Kara’s apartment Kara changed Lena into her pajamas and placed her down on the bed. It was almost time to bring Grace back home, and Alex had agreed to stay at home with Lena, so Kara helped Grace change back into her dress and walked her home.

Eve opened the door with the same welcoming smile.

“Hi dears, did you have a nice day?”

“Yes! Miss Kara took me to the zoo Eve, and I finished my math homework!” Grace started talking excitedly to Eve before Eve asked her to tell the other staff about her day too, and Grace was about to run off before she turned around and gave Kara a hug.

“Thank you for taking me to the zoo miss Kara!” she smiled brightly before running off to talk to the other staff.

“That girl has a lot of energy sometimes, I don’t know how she does it,” Eve laughed. “I can’t even walk up the stairs without losing breath nowadays.”

“You did good, she’s not home too early or too late, and she had a great day. Thank you.” Eve smiled softly before handing Kara a small stack of 50 dollar bills.

“This should be enough to cover it, Cheryl will be home in a few minutes, so you better leave. She doesn’t like it when the sitters stick around to talk to the staff.”

“Oh, and Kara? I hope you’ll watch her again, I’ve never seen her this happy.” a sad smile formed on Eve’s lips before she shook her head and ushered Kara out.

Kara opened her mouth to answer, but a big, black Porsche was pulling up the driveway and Eve closed the door before she could say anything. Kara walked past the Porsche quickly, and she could still hear the door of the car open when she turned the corner at the end of the street.

It didn’t take her long to reach her apartment, and as soon as she opened the door she was met with one of the cutest sights she’d ever seen.

Alex was asleep on the couch, holding a sleeping Lena against her. Nala lay on top of Alex’s stomach, and her legs were covered with the blanket Kara had bought a few months ago. Alex said she hated the thing but every time she came over she ended up crawling under the blanket.

It only took Kara a few minutes to get the camera from her bag, and as soon she’d taken a few pictures (okay, she might’ve taken a lot of pictures, but whatever, no one has to know) she headed to the kitchen. Alex had placed the leftovers on the counter along with a plate for Kara.

Kara filled the plate with Chinese food and heated it up with her heat vision. Lena was starting to wake up due to the sound of Kara’s cutlery  (she’d always been a light sleeper), but Alex was still out cold, so Kara removed Lena from Alex’s grip and rested Lena on her hip.

“Go back to sleep Lee, it’s been a long day,” Kara brushed a few strands of hair from Lena’s face and watched as Lena almost immediately fell asleep again.

It took her about fifteen minutes to eat the multiple portions of Chinese leftovers, Lena still asleep in her lap by the time she was finished. Alex seemed to be completely drained of energy too, so Kara turned on the TV and watched some Netflix.

After about an hour of watching Netflix, her phone started ringing. The first thought that popped into her mind was “please don’t let it be Cheryl”, and luckily, when she looked at the caller ID it said “Maggie” along with the policewoman emoji she’d added.

“Hi, Maggie,”

“Hey Little Danvers, is Alex asleep on your couch again?” Kara could hear that Maggie already knew the answer by her voice, the smile almost as obvious as it’d be if she was right in front of her.

“Yup, we took Lena and Grace—don’t ask, it’s a long story—to the zoo and she seems to be out cold.”

Alex had told Maggie about the “Lena incident” directly after she left Kara’s apartment, and the detective had burst out laughing immediately.

_“Wait, hold up, you’re telling me that little Luthor got turned into a toddler and Kara’s taking care of her?” Maggie didn’t even give Alex time to answer and immediately started wheezing with laughter._

_“Oh man that’s going to be such a disaster,” Alex rolled her eyes before poking Maggie in the ribs._

_“Kara’s doing fine so far, actually,” while Kara had texted her a few times in the past hour asking her about some things, she seemed to be handling the whole ‘taking care of a toddler’ thing quite well._

_“You sure about that? Wait until the kid becomes old enough to start asking for things, Little Danvers won’t be able to resist that damn pout, she’s so whipped for Little Luthor!”_

_“Mags, no, don’t go there,” Alex was laughing, but the ‘big sister’ part of her was cringing at the mere thought of her little sister being whipped._

_“Oh c’mon Danvers, admit it, you know Little Danvers has a crush,”_

_“Okay. Fine. Kara has a crush on Lena. That doesn’t mean she’ll give into everything Lena asks for, though!” she knew she was wrong, but her duty as a big sister required her to defend her little sister or at least attempt to._

_Maggie simply raised an eyebrow and Alex sighed._

_“We’re doomed.” a huge smile took over Maggie’s face before she let out a hum of agreement and kissed Alex on her forehead._

_“Super doomed,”_

“Well, when she wakes up, tell her I’m waiting for her with ice cream and some action movies,” Maggie’s smile could be heard through the phone, and Kara hummed out a quick ‘sure’ before Maggie hung up.

Kara stood up with Lena resting on her hip and softly shook Alex with one hand. She knew Alex would probably want her to wake her up, especially with Maggie waiting for her.

“Hey Al, Maggie is waiting for you,” Alex’s eyes fluttered open before closing immediately.

“Mmmh, Mags?” Alex mumbled some other words, but Kara didn’t understand much of what she was trying to say.

“Yeah Maggie’s waiting for you,” Kara chuckled before nudging Alex again. “C’mon get up, I’ll drive you home.”

“M’okay” Alex opened her eyes again and slowly sat up. They walked to the coat rack and put on their coats before heading over to Alex’s apartment, which she now shared with Maggie.

It took Kara three knocks before Maggie opened up. She’d changed into her pajamas already and smiled at the sight of the three of them. Lena was still asleep in Kara’s arms, and Alex was leaning against the wall, already half asleep. A smile formed on her lips when she laid eyes on her girlfriend and she joined Maggie in the apartment after giving her little sister a hug, careful to not wake Lena up.

“Thanks for driving her home Little Danvers,” Maggie smiled softly. “How’s it going with Lena?”

Kara brushed her fingers through Lena’s hair softly with her free hand.

“She’s good, starting to talk a lot more, which is great too because honestly, the silences felt so strange. She always talks a lot once I get her started on a topic she’s interested in.”

Maggie hummed before Alex called her from inside the apartment. “Well, that’s my queue. Night, Little Danvers.”

“Bye Maggie!” Kara waved before walking down the stairs and out of Alex’s apartment complex. The walk back to her own apartment didn’t take too long—she and Alex live relatively close by—and before she knew it she was at her apartment again, in her pajamas and crawling underneath the covers.

She wrote a bit in her new journal before turning the light off and mumbling a small ‘g’night Lee’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the last chapter, please comment & give kudos! I love seeing all the feedback, even if I don't respond sometimes (I promise I do read every single one of your comments)!
> 
> If you want to chat you can hit me up on Tumblr @Eastenra, feel free to yell at me about SuperCorp!  
> I'm also in a SuperCorp/Arrowverse Discord group, so if you want to join message me on Tumblr :D


	7. Half Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man, it's been a while, hasn't it? I truly apologize for going awol, I didn't exactly like this story for a while and was dreading updating it, so when I went on vacation to the U.S. for a month I kind of just... forgot that it existed. But that being said, I'm back! Kind of. At least I'm working on this story again, although it might be slow, so don't expect weekly updates heh.
> 
> Feel free to yell at me on Tumblr @Eastenra, I'm always in need of motivation. 
> 
> All mistakes are mine. The title is from Half Light by BANNERS.
> 
> Oh, and I forgot to mention, Murphy was the last name I chose for Lena's mom because it hasn't been mentioned on the show and it's one of the most common Irish last names :D

The next day passed in a blur, there was an emergency at the DEO and Kara had rushed over there as fast as she could without flying. She’d taken a sleeping Lena along too, dropped her off with one of the agents at the DEO and proceeded to fly out the window.

It was almost midnight when she returned. Alex had taken Lena back to her apartment, and Kara was almost thankful for the small moment she had to herself. Flying back to National City in the middle of the night, finally being away from all the city lights. The only light came from the stars above her, the same stars that looked so different than the ones she could see from her bedroom window back on Krypton, but somehow, they were still familiar.

“Hey Al, thanks for taking care of her.” Kara yawned as she stepped into her apartment, her eyes landing on Alex, who was sitting on her couch, watching some kind of science documentary.

Alex chuckled and stood up, saying something about heading out and going straight to bed, but Kara’s ears were oversensitive from the explosion she’d had to deal with, so she couldn’t be entirely sure. She might’ve been too tired to focus, too, so she nodded and hugged her sister, mumbling a small ‘bye’.

She didn’t even bother walking with Alex to the door, heading straight to her bedroom instead. Her cape was annoyingly touching the back of her legs as she walked and honestly, she couldn’t _wait_ to get out of her suit.

She noticed Lena sleeping on what had officially become her side of the bed, the toddler had grown a lot since she’d last seen her, and Kara felt a bit weird thinking about the fact that she’d last seen Lena that morning. She was a little bit older than two years now.

Her cape landed on the ground with a soft noise, her boots and suit soon following. The soft smell of her pajamas filled her nose as she slipped them over her head and crawled in bed. She yawned again, and when she felt the soft sensation of Lena crawling into her space, she smiled. 

***

She doesn’t remember falling asleep, but she does remember waking up to hasty breathing and two glistering green eyes staring up at her. Lena all but crawled into her lap when Kara sat up, sniffling as she buried her face in the crook of Kara’s neck.

“Hey Lee, what’s wrong?” Kara started rubbing circles on Lena’s small back, hoping it’ll help calm her down.

Lena looked up at her with a trembling lip before mumbling something. Kara managed to decipher what she was saying after a while. “Bad twings.”

“What bad things Lee?” Kara asked softly when Lena doesn’t continue talking. The two-year-old simply shook her head and mumbled something that even Kara, with her superhearing, couldn’t figure out.

Her small hands curled even tighter around Kara’s shirt, and Kara continued softly rubbing her back until Lena fell asleep again and Kara soon followed. The morning that followed was calm, and for the first time since Roger the metahuman, Lena wasn’t awake before Kara, so Kara walked around with a sleeping Lena in her arms while making breakfast.

The two-year-old basically devoured her pancakes when she woke up, grinning at Kara and showing off her empty plate before making Kara put her on the ground and padding over to her little corner of toys. She picked Nala up off the ground and walked back over to Kara.

“Rwoar!” she yelled before giggling and sitting down right in front of Kara. Kara burst out laughing and picked her up off the ground, holding her above her head and testing to see what Lena thought of it. When she was met with screeching laughter and two small legs kicking the air happily she started running around the house.

“You’re flying Lee!” she laughed happily before making a ‘whoosh’ sound.

Lena enjoyed every second of it, laughing every time Kara as much as changed directions. Her apartment door opened just as she was running past the door, and her sister’s confused face made her stop in her tracks. Alex opened her mouth for a moment before bursting out laughing too.

They were all laughing now, Kara opting to make Lena ‘fly’ over to Alex instead of the bathroom, where they were originally headed.

“She was playful after breakfast…” Kara trailed off when Alex raised her eyebrow.

“You felt bad because you were gone all day yesterday didn’t you?”

“Whaaat? Nooo, how could you-“ Alex raised her eyebrow again and Kara sighed before mumbling out a ‘maybe’. “I made her pancakes and she wanted to play so I just went with it. We had fun.”

“Even though J’onn asked you to come into the DEO?” Kara’s eyes widened and she quickly took Lena with her into the bedroom, using her superspeed to dress both herself and Lena, then brushed her own teeth and Lena’s before scooping her up into her arms and rushing past Alex.

“I’m taking Lena with me,” Kara called as she rushed out the door, grabbing Lena’s coat from the coat rack next to the door and rushing outside. “Bye Alex!”

She was in the small alley next to her apartment before she knew it, pushing off from the ground and taking off with Lena in her arms before it could settle in that she was taking _Lena_ , who was deathly afraid of any heights, with her. When she got to the DEO she finally stopped to think about Lena, but she was calmly looking up at Kara while letting out a giggle. Apparently, her fear of heights manifested later in her life.

J’onn went over the events of yesterday with her, while an agent took notes of everything Kara said.

“Was there any evidence of how they possibly could’ve gotten to earth?”

“Not as far as I know, there was no ship or any marks surrounding them. The best bet is that they used a portal.” Kara shook her head, thinking back to the alien standing in the middle of an open cornfield. They’d attacked a few farmhouses, clearly looking for something. “This is the third time we’ve accoutered their kind this month, but no one we know speaks their language so it’s hard to figure out what they want.”

A piercing screech cut through the room just as J’onn was about to answer. Kara was out the door in less than a second, using her superspeed to race back to where she’d left Lena with Winn.

“ _SHE RUINED MY COMPUTER!_ ” Winn’s voice screeched again as he lifted Lena off his desk, holding her out to Kara. “How did she even _get up there?!”_

Kara took Lena in her arms, who was staring at her with teary eyes and softly sniffling. She’d gotten scared when Winn screamed at her for knocking over a cup of coffee. Granted, it did spill all over his keyboard. Kara chuckled once at the sight of Winn dramatically cradling his keyboard.

“It’s not your computer Winn, just the keyboard, you can just get a new one from the tech storage room,” she laughed when he looked at her in horror.

“And get one of those chunky, sticky keyboards?” he let out a fake gasp and held his hand to his chest. “Never!”

Kara turned Lena in her arms so that she was facing her, the toddler looking at her with big eyes and a wide smile.

“How _did_ you get up there, though?” she asked Lena, not so much expecting an answer.

Lena’s arm moved, and she clearly pointed at the chair, which was next to the desk. Kara looked shocked for a second before she remembered Lena climbing on her couch and chairs at her apartment when it suddenly made a lot more sense.

“Well then, it seems like _someone_ has been feeling like a monkey lately, huh?” Maggie’s voice came from behind her.

Kara turned and as soon as Lena caught sight of Maggie she squealed and yelled out “Maggie!”. Maggie chuckled and let out a small “hey Luthor”, Lena scrunching her nose up and looking at Kara in confusion.

“Wufor?” she almost whispered the sounds, but Kara caught it anyways thanks to her superhearing.

“That’s you, Lee! Your last name!” when Lena shook her head Kara looked at Maggie, who was staring at the toddler too. Both women were equally shocked, Lena hadn’t shown any signs of recognition or denial when faced with any memories from her actually childhood or this, second and definitely shorter version.

“Murp’y!” Lena’s soft, accent laced voice was strong now. She was entirely convinced that she was right.

“Murphy?”

“Lena Murp’y,” she nodded decidedly, pointing at herself once before softly mumbling. “Where’s mummy?”

Kara had to fight the gasp that almost left her throat, she was quickly choking up as two teary, green eyes looked at her own. She glanced at Maggie once, the older women looking almost as pained as she felt before she mumbled “Alex” and sped outside.

When she got back to her apartment Alex was still there, standing in the kitchen and making a sandwich. Kara choked out her sister’s name with tears in her eyes. Alex spun around almost immediately, recognizing the tremble in her sister’s voice.

“What happened?” she asked softly as she led Kara to the couch. Kara let out a sniffle when she sunk into Alex’s side.

“She remembers Alex, everything from her childhood, she remembers her mom but she doesn’t know she’s-“ her voice cut off just as her eyes landed on Lena, who seemed to have forgotten about everything due to the flight. She’s playing with blocks with numbers on them, lining up 2, 3 and 5 next to each other.

Alex looks at her like she understands, before glancing at Lena and sighing.

“My guess is that she still has her memories from when she was this age, and as she grows she’ll get back whatever memories are associated to that age,” Kara was nodding along with her sister’s voice, standing up while Alex is still talking and sitting next to Lena on the ground. The toddler’s eyes catch her movement almost immediately and she crawls into Kara’s lap, dragging her blocks along. Kara’s hand finds Lena’s hair immediately and she softly brushes her hand over it.

She can’t even imagine it all. Lena would have to go through the death of her mom again, Lionel’s death, Lillian’s hatred, Lex’s insanity, everything. It brings up feelings she still carries around with her, feelings of when she sat in the room she shared with Alex and stared at the wall with teary eyes, wondering why everything had ended up that way, wondering why she was stuck on a planet where she didn’t know the language, the people, nothing.

“Kar?” Alex’s voice drags her out of the trance she was in. The smile Alex sends her is gentle, and Kara carefully smiles back. “Potstickers and pizza?”

Alex doesn’t wait for Kara’s answer, she just walks over to the phone and dials the first phone number she has memorized.

When the food arrives not even an hour later, Kara has calmed down enough to laugh with Alex and play with Lena, talking to her about everything and anything Lena seems to be interested in.

Alex sets up the food in front of the tv as Kara gets Lena a napkin. She ever so gently uses her freeze breath to cool down the potstickers so that they won’t burn Lena’s mouth before cutting it in half and feeding her one. Alex is still looking at her in shock because instead of immediately eating one herself, Kara had given Lena one first. Kara doesn’t notice, though.

The smile Lena gives her while chewing makes Kara excitedly fist pump.

“I knew she was lying when she said she didn’t care for potstickers!” she turns to Alex excitedly, who laughs and brushes her off.

“I’m sure she did it to make you eat more vegetables,” Alex mumbled, making Kara glare at her while sticking out her tongue. “but we all know that isn’t happening anyways.”

Lena’s nose crinkled up at the mention of vegetables, and Kara absolutely loved it. She went into a rant about how she _knew_ Lena didn’t actually like kale and that she was going to use it as blackmail when Lena was back to her old self.

“Oh I have _got_ to get this on film!” she exclaimed for rushing to the camera charging on the table. She handed it to Alex before sitting down with Lena.

“Okay, go” Alex mouthed when she clicked the film button. Kara smiled widely before using her fork to pick up a piece of Chinese cabbage that Alex had in her vegetable mix (Kara kept telling her not to order it because they never ate it anyway, but Alex claimed that she needed it to at least make her feel like she was being healthy). She stuck it out to Lena, who looked at it hesitantly before taking a small, careful bite. It took about two seconds for her face to scrunch up in disgust. The toddler reached for the cut up potsticker on her plate instead, stuffing it in her mouth to make the bad taste go away. Kara’s smile widened if that was even possible before she grinned at the camera. Alex cut the filming.

“She’s so going to hate you for exposing her,” Alex laughed.

“Oh, I _know_ ,” Kara grinned.


	8. It all comes down to this

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hear ye, hear ye, I have returned with yet another chapter! And no less than 11 days later! It might not sound like much, but I had five exams that I needed to take, so I'm quite impressed with myself lol. 
> 
> Anyways enjoy, the title is from It All Comes Down To This - (live from the attic) by Aquilo. 
> 
> The usual applies, please leave comments and kudos! I truly appreciate every single one of them! Oh, and come befriend me on Tumblr @ Eastenra, I'll spill all my future plans for this fic to you and you can yell at me to hurry up with updates.

“Do you think we should take her to the museum?” is the first thing that Kara heard Alex say when she got back from changing Lena into her pajamas and tucking her in bed.

“What makes you say that?” Alex just shrugged, before mumbling something about wanting to go to the museum. Kara grinned, plopping down on the couch next to her sister and leaning into her.

“I suppose we _could_ ,” she dragged out her words, watching as Alex rolled her eyes. Alex pressed the button on the remote to start Hair Spray, yet another movie Kara had chosen, which she loved even though she’d never admit it.

Kara commented on random things throughout the movie, making Alex swat her hand at her to get her to shut up. She wasn’t very talkative while watching her favorite movies, while Kara liked to point out every single thought that came into her head.

Kara left to get some popcorn from the kitchen in the middle of the movie, and before she knew it Alex was faced with an overflowing pan of popcorn that wouldn’t stop popping, a teary-eyed toddler hugging her leg after having woken up because of the noise, and a stinging headache.

She sighed before taking the pan off the heat, lifting Lena up to take her back to bed, and sending a really, really pissed off look Kara’s way, which was met with a cheeky smile and a “sorry Al”.

“Alex?” a tired mumble came for Lena, who was looking at her with small sleepy eyes. “Don’t wanna sleep.”

Alex resisted the urge to chuckle, Lena was clearly in desperate need of sleep, but she was fighting as well as she could after seeing the two sisters watching a movie.

“Well, I’m afraid you have to, bug. We’re going to the museum tomorrow and we don’t want you to be too tired, now do we?” Lena shook her head while yawning, although the excitement was clearly waking her up.

By the time Alex sat her down on her bed, Lena was excitedly jumping up and down at the possibility of seeing everything the museum had to offer, including the space exhibit.

It took some coaxing to convince Lena to go to sleep again—she demanded two bedtime stories—and while one was more than enough, Alex was too grateful that Lena was even willing to go to sleep that she just went along with it. Lena was asleep before she’d even finished the first one.

Alex got back to find Kara nodding off in front of the tv, and after doing even more coaxing—her sister was harder to please than two bedtime stories—she convinced her little sister to change out of her clothing into an oversized t-shirt and get into bed. There was a promise of pot stickers and pizza for dinner somewhere along the line, too.

She wrote a note and stuck it to the fridge—knowing Kara would come across it when she went for a midnight snack, or in the morning for breakfast.

***

The next morning Kara woke up to sirens, it wasn’t anything major, but she decided to fly out anyways. Not even 30 minutes later she got back home, it was barely 6 am so she changed into her clothes for the day, laid out Lena’s outfit, and started packing a bag full of everything they might need at the museum. By the time Lena woke up she was done and had never felt so prepared. Lena’s coat and shoes were by the door, right next to her own and there was a bag hanging from the coatrack with everything they could ever need.

“Kara?” a sleepy mumble came from the hallway, followed by the padding of small, bare feet on the wooden floor. A small floof of black hair appeared in the corner of Kara’s eye, and when she turned around, she was faced with a tiny toddler, whose hair happened to be standing upright. Kara chuckled while watching Lena walk over to her. Her hair would bounce with every step, and when Kara moved her hand over it, Lena’s hair followed. Kara didn’t know how Lena had managed to make it happen, but her hair was extremely static.

“Hi Lee,” Kara laughed, before patting Lena’s hair down. “Did you sleep well?”

Lena hummed in response, nodding lightly and struggled to try and get onto the chair at the bar. Kara gave her a lift, although Lena later claimed to Alex she got up all on her own with a wide smile.

“Do you want cornflakes or yogurt?” Kara turned to the fridge and held out the milk and the yogurt, watching as Lena scrunched her nose up before pointing to the yogurt. As soon as Kara had finished cutting up her fruits and sprinkled them on top of her granola—which she’d proudly poured in herself, along with the yogurt, as obvious by the mess around her—Lena dug in with a big smile. She apparently really liked yogurt.

“Hey, Lee?” Kara poked Lena’s arm softly, and when she looked up with a mouth full of yogurt and toppings, Kara continued. “Guess what we’re doing today?

A muffled “mus’em” followed, along with a wide smile. Kara would’ve thought it was adorable if it hadn’t been for the yogurt currently leaking down Lena’s chin, or the mess it’d created on her pajama shirt. Maybe asking her a question while she was eating hadn’t been the smartest thing to do after all.

Kara nodded excitedly, quickly finishing her own breakfast, Lena following soon after. She swooped Lena off her chair after putting the dishes in the dishwasher and carried her to their temporarily shared bedroom where Lena’s outfit still laid. It was a dark blue dress covered in tiny planets, leggings and an oversized cardigan, as well as a tiny mustard yellow beanie to match the cardigan. Lena’s bright yellow converse went well with the outfit, and when Kara was putting Lena’s shoes on for her, she couldn’t help but be proud of herself for that outfit, so she made Lena pose in front of the wall as she took a picture.

Lena loved the dress, immediately squealing at the print, ranting about something related to space that Kara didn’t entirely catch.

Alex knocked on her door not even five minutes later, just as Kara was helping Lena put her coat on. They were on their way soon after, Lena fully strapped into her temporary car seat and Kara chatting with Alex in the front.

Kara had to play games with Lena during the drive, the museum was just outside the city, but she happened to live on the exact opposite side, so it still took a little time. When they finally arrived Lena was almost vibrating with excitement, bouncing in her seat as Alex unhooked everything and lifted her out.

“Space!” she screeched as soon as her eyes landed on the big poster outside of the door displaying a picture of Mars and the NASA symbol.

“Yeah!” Kara mirrored her excitement as she took Lena’s hand to go buy tickets. Alex used her DEO credit card to pay, winking at Kara and mumbling something about necessary education before they’re pulled inside by Lena. They all agree to look at the other parts of the museum before going to the space exhibit, so they can spend the longest there. Lena was a little disappointed at first, but once her eyes landed on the big dinosaur skeletons, she went quiet and instead started pulling Kara or Alex to every single information board, begging them to read it with her.

“Look, fish!” Kara was pulled along again, having gotten used to Lena skipping over to her, grabbing her hand and—with more power than she’d have expected from the small girl—yanking her along to see whatever she was excited about.

The museum had an aquarium filled with all kinds of fish, and Lena seemed to be excited over every single one.

“It says here that the little, brown fish over there use their color as camouflage, so they can hide from predators in their favorite plants!” Lena all but squashed her face against the glass when she spotted the fish Alex was pointing at, her breathing fogging it up, as she stared at the tiny fish in between the coral.

They’d gotten to the last aquarium, and it was finally time for the space exhibit. Lena didn’t seem to notice where they were heading as she happily skipped along with Kara. There was a Band-Aid on her knee (on top of her legging) from when she’d fallen, and although her knee was totally fine, she’d begged for a Band-Aid. Kara blamed it on the fact that they had little astronauts on them.

When a smaller version of the space poster came into view again, Lena gasped and stopped walking. Her face was full of excitement when she looked up at Kara, who nodded and excitedly walked along with Lena. The first part of the exhibit was solely on astronauts, multiple space suits on display, as well as technology and other necessities. An employee of the museum had a plate full of smaller versions of astronaut food, and although Kara pulled a face when Lena gave her the first bite of what was supposed to be an ice cream sandwich, Lena didn’t seem to mind it one bit.  

The second part of the exhibit was about space. Kara couldn’t help but scoff at some of the information on the panels, so as Alex was reading the third one with a frown, she took Lena’s hand and started telling her about what she remembered being taught. About how much bigger everything was than humans thought, about how there were actually many alien species, just none near Earth. When Lena begged her to tell her about Krypton, Kara hesitated, but the toddler’s trusting and hopeful face made her cave. Alex was trailing behind them, looking at the exhibit herself and giving her sister some space.

When it was time to leave, Kara finished her story about the Martians, how they were from a different Mars than the one Earth knows, and carefully told Lena it was time to go. She expected a small nod along with a satisfied smile, but when she got an angry face and tearful eyes instead, she didn’t know what to do.

“No!” Lena yelled for the second time as Alex tried to convince her to come to the car. She was screaming and crying, every tear that fell from her eyes making Kara’s heart hurt more, but they had to leave. The museum was closing. Alex shook her head once, turned to look at Kara with a sorry expression, before picking Lena up and carrying her to the car. Lena was yelling her protests as she struggled to fight Alex’s steady grip off, but she was just a toddler and there wasn’t much she could do.

By the time they’d reached their car, Lena had quieted down and was just crying silently. As soon as she’d been strapped in and the door was closed, she pressed her hands and her face against the glass. She stayed like that the entire way home. Kara found her asleep when she came to take her out of her car seat.

When she entered her apartment, Kara tucked Lena in and started on dinner. Alex had dropped her off, before leaving to date night with Maggie.

Just as she was plating up the Chinese leftovers, two tiny footsteps caught her attention. Lena was standing right in front of her with teary eyes. She mumbled something that sounded a lot like sorry, before reaching out for Kara to lift her up.

“Did you have fun today?” Kara asked gently. She rubbed a tear off Lena’s cheek and gave her a soft smile. Lena nodded furiously, shyly smiling back before shoving a piece of chicken in her mouth.

“Lotsa fun,” she nodded again, “I want to be an astronaut.”

Kara smiled widely. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! So I can see space, just like you!” she paused for a moment, before looking up at Kara again. “Will you show me?”

Kara swallowed heavily, before glancing at her bookcase. Lena looked at her in confusion when she stood up.

“I’m not sure I can show you, but I do have these,” she picked up her old sketchbook, the one she’d gotten from Eliza right after she landed on Earth. It was filled with tear-stained sketches of Krypton, Rao, and everything 13-year-old Kara could remember.

Lena looked at the book and happily scooted closer to Kara to get a good look at it. It had a thick leather cover which reminded her of the fairytale book her mom used to read to her.

Lena gasped as soon as her eyes landed on the drawing. It wasn’t artistic quality, but it was so different from everything she’d ever seen. The sky was red and the sun was too, there was no grass or trees, just endlessly curved buildings that seemed to defy gravity.

“Where’s that?” she pointed at the second drawing Kara showed her. It was a blue planet, with blue grass and trees, and purple water. Or at least, she guessed it was water.

“We called it _Veamia_ in Kryptonian,” Kara traced the drawing with her finger. “It has no inhabitants, just vegetation, and a lot of water. It’s like Earth, in a way, but with no people, animals or insects.”

Lena stared again, following Kara’s finger with her eyes as it caressed the picture.

“Do dead persons go there?” she asked softly, her voice barely inaudible as she stared at her feet. Kara had bought her socks with cacti on them.

When Kara turned to look at Lena in surprise, the three-year-old hadn’t moved much. She was moving her foot slowly, trying to distract herself from the question she’d just asked. Kara opened her mouth to stutter out an answer, but Lena was talking again.

“A lady told me ‘bout heaven, it’s peaceful,” she curled her hand up into her cardigan. “She said mummy went there. Did she?”

Kara stayed silent, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. Lena’s mom had died in a fire when she was three, Kara remembered Lena telling her one night where she’d drank too much. She’d been targeted again, and Kara had found her on her couch with a glass of wine in her hand, staring at the ground.

As much as the girl’s quick progress still shocked her, she’d gone from mispronouncing words to full sentences in less than two days (which she knew was actually a year, but still), what Alex had said about her regaining her memories rendered her speechless. She’d hoped it wasn’t true, but here she was. Lena had crawled into her lap, leaning back against Kara. Kara realized she hadn’t expected an answer, not really.

About ten minutes of silence had passed when Lena carefully asked for ice cream. Kara was all but happy to get her some, lifting Lena up along with her and fetching it from the freezer. When Lena voiced her preference to Kara’s favorite flavor instead of the strawberry flavor the adult version of her usually had when she came by Kara’s apartment. She paused for a moment. Lena had probably chosen strawberry because she knew Kara’s favorite was chocolate. Kara didn’t even think about it when she grabbed two small spoons and sat them back down in front of the tv. She let Lena pick the movie—Princess and the Frog—and they both happily spooned some ice cream into their mouths.

And if she let Lena have almost the entire carton of ice cream, well, who could blame her. After all, the tiny Luthor’s pout was as powerful as the woman she would grow up to be.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more chapters to this, as I hope to make this into a series.
> 
> Comments and kudos motivate me! They're also extremely appreciated!
> 
> If you want to chat you can hit me up on Tumblr @Eastenra, feel free to yell at me about Supercorp!


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